Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for monitoring intentional or unavoidable layer depositions in a process chamber and to a method for carrying out measurements with the apparatus.
In processing operations which are carried out in process chambers and wherein material is removed, which include, for example, the methods of reactive ion etching (RIE) and chemical assisted ion beam etching (CAIBE), a deposit may unintentionally be deposited on account of the starting chemicals used and the resulting reaction products on the inner wall of the reactor wherein the processing operation is carried out. Since the thickness of the deposit continually increases as the process duration increases and, once a specific layer thickness has been reached, the process carried out in the chamber interacts with this deposit to such a great extent that the process can be destabilized, this unavoidable deposit is therefore removed at periodic intervals by carrying out a special cleaning process.
While plasma etching processes or CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) processes are performed, polymer layers are deposited on the inside of the process chamber. The layers increase as the operating duration increases, so that after a certain layer thickness has been exceeded, the layer that has grown breaks up and fragments may possibly even drop during operation. As a result, contaminants are produced in the chamber or, if a fragment falls onto the wafer surface, circuits on the processed wafer are rendered unusable. In order to remove these undesirable depositions on the inside of the chamber, the process chamber must occasionally be subjected to wet-chemical cleaning. During the cleaning, the chamber is not available for further production.
In accordance with the prior art, the time for initiating the cleaning process is defined on the basis of empirical values obtained from the determination of the quality of the processed materials. Active monitoring of the state of the chamber wall takes place only in exceptional cases; for example, in the case of a sensor or measurement system for measuring the thickness of the deposit, a measurement principle based on the measurement of thermal capacity is used or the layer thickness is determined by means of ultrasound wave propagation times. Disadvantages of these measurement principles are, for example, the need for additional electrical bushings into the process chamber in order to link the measuring apparatuses to evaluation units. Moreover, the ultrasound wave propagation time method is temperature-sensitive and is made more difficult to carry out as a result of disturbing reflections from the structures within the process chamber.
The Japanese patent application documents JP 63-153269 A, JP 01-132767 A, JP 04-176866 A, JP 05-255850, A and JP 06-49641 disclose arranging a sensor element in the form of a monitor substrate in the region of the layer deposition and detecting the transmission and/or reflection beam emerging from a light source, that is to say the intensity change, by means of a detector and using it to set method parameters. Furthermore, Japanese patent application documents JP 11-140655 A and JP 11-131211 A disclose monitoring the chamber cleaning of a process chamber by means of photosensors, with measurement of the intensity attenuation of a light beam by the layer growing on a window in the chamber wall.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an apparatus and method for monitoring layer deposition processes in a reactor chamber, which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices and methods of this general type and with which the most favorable cleaning cycle times for technological and economic process control can be determined with the lowest possible outlay.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, an apparatus for monitoring layer depositions in a process chamber, comprising:
a light source;
a sensor element subjectable to deposition and growth of a deposition layer;
a light detector;
the sensor element having a region configured to absorb light to a significantly lesser extent than a remaining part of the sensor element, wherein an intensity of the light is measured in dependence on the region being grown over by a thickness of the deposition layer.
In accordance with an added feature of the invention, the region is a continuous opening formed in the sensor element. The region is configured to influence the intensity of the light beam measured by the detector as the thickness of the layer grows on the sensor element.
In other words, there is provided an apparatus for monitoring layer depositions in a process chamber, comprising a light source, a sensor element, at least one light detector, the sensor element being suitably configured in order to influence the intensity of the light beam measured by the detector by the thickness of the layer growing on the sensor element, and the sensor element having at least one continuous opening and/or at least one region which absorbs the light beam to a significantly lesser extent than the remaining part of the sensor element, through which opening or region the intensity of the light is measured as a function of the opening grown over by the thickness of the growing layer.
In a method for carrying out measurements with such an apparatus, a cleaning cycle time of the process chamber is determined from the intensity measurement of the light by comparing the measured light intensity with a predetermined minimum intensity or a predetermined maximum intensity.
That is, the monitoring method comprises providing an apparatus as outlined above, monitoring a layer deposition in a process chamber with the apparatus, determining a cleaning cycle time of the process chamber from an intensity measurement of the light by comparing the measured light intensity with one of a predetermined minimum intensity and a predetermined maximum intensity.
In the apparatus and the method, in order to determine the thickness of the deposit, the absorption and/or refraction of light at a concomitantly coated opening is determined and evaluated. In this case, the light source may, in principle, be of any desired configuration. Either an external light source or the use of plasma luminous phenomena is preferred as the light source. In this case, external light source does not necessarily mean that it is positioned outside the process chamber, rather it may also be situated inside the process chamber. The method according to the invention is based on the concept of introducing into the process chamber an object as sensor element, on which is deposited largely the same deposit as on the process chamber. The thickness of the deposit, which defines the state of the process chamber and thus the most favorable cleaning cycle time for technological (and economic) process control, can be determined by optical means, such as, for example, by means of light absorption and/or refraction. The method is based on the measurement of the influencing of light, for example by absorption at the sensor element. The component referred to as sensor element is introduced into the process chamber at a location at which it can be expected that a deposit will be formed similar in quality and form to that on the object to be processed/treated, in order preferably to monitor intentionally produced deposits. Specifically, in order preferably to measure unavoidable depositions, it is fitted where it can be expected that there will be a deposit similar in quality and form to that on the chamber wall. In this case, the sensor element is preferably composed of a material which completely absorbs the light used for measurement. The sensor element is preferably composed of silicon. On the sensor element, at least one continuous opening is provided, which may, in principle, be of any desired form, and the light used for measurement is observed through this opening and detected by a detector. The sensor element is thus used like a diaphragm. It is also possible for the opening or the openings not to be completely continuous spatially. What is important, however, is that they are virtually completely transmissive for the light beam. A specific embodiment of the sensor element is, for example, a layered construction of the sensor element, one layer being composed of a material which absorbs the light used and having at least one spatially continuous opening. This layer is applied to a second layer, which is composed of a material which does not absorb the light used. The order of magnitude of the spatial dimension of the opening/s is chosen within the same range as the layer thickness defined for the chamber cleaning occasion. The measurement principle is based on the observation of the light absorbed at the opening. The absorption increases as the extent to which the opening is grown over increases.
If the deposit is only weakly absorbing for the light used and the opening is grown over in the formation of a lenticular structure, then it is also possible to utilize the increasing scattering of the light at curved surfaces on account of refraction at the interfaces between deposit and surroundings, and on account of the light scattering and total reflection occurring in the deposit. The greater the thickness of the deposit, the lower the light intensity that can be measured at the detector. The cleaning cycle time or generally the coating thickness can be determined by comparing the measured light intensity with a predetermined minimum intensity. The invention thereby enables the active monitoring of the state of the chamber wall during coating, without interrupting the coating processes (in situ). In an analogous procedure, it is also possible to observe the erosion of the layer thickness associated with the cleaning operation and to determine the time required for cleaning the process chamber (cleaning time) by comparing the measured light intensity with a predetermined maximum intensity. The cleaning cycle time, or cleaning time or generally the coating thickness can be determined by comparing the measured light intensity with a predetermined intensity in an optimum manner without interrupting the coating processes. What is also advantageous about the apparatus according to the invention, in addition to the low outlay on equipment, is that additional electrical bushings into the process chamber are not necessary. The invention can be used for monitoring all processing/treatment operations wherein an intended or unintended layer deposition occurs.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in an apparatus for monitoring intentional or unavoidable layer depositions and method, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.